No. 48 December 2016 - IHAI · archaeological remains in the area. The village adjacent to the mine...

No. 48 December 2016 [INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND NEWSLETTER]

Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland Newsletter: No. 48 December 2016 1

IHAI ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 16th April 2016, Belfast

The Annual General Meeting of the Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland Ltd took place in central Belfast, at the Belfast Barge, on Saturday 16th April 2016 at 11.00a.m. This was followed by a tour of the bridges near the Abercorn basin ending with a fascinating boat trip around the city’s docklands, trip on the Joyce.in Tour of National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin (in conjunction with Dublin Decorative and Fine Arts Society), on 10 October 2015, led by Keeper of the

Herbarium, Matthew

Belfast AGM 2016

AGM Venue: The Belfast Barge

Boat trip of Belfast Docklands on the Joyce

(Photos: Fred Hamond)



Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland Awards for Year 2015

The Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland (IHAI) Awards were presented on Wednesday, 23rd February 2016 at a function in ESB Head Office. The event, sponsored by ESB, was hosted by Jim Dollard, Executive Director. This year’s event was very special as it incorporated the inaugural presentation of the Mary Mulvihill Media Award which was established by the IHAI to honour the memory of Mary Mulvihill a pioneering Scientific Journalist & Broadcaster. Mary made an outstanding contribution to promoting all aspects of Industrial Heritage both North & South of the Border.

Michael Grace, President of IHAI commented that ‘IHAI are delighted with the sponsorship of these Awards from ESB which seek to give recognition to individuals and organisations who have made an outstanding contribution to promoting and safeguarding industrial heritage on an all-Ireland basis. It is important that we both recognise and celebrate achievement’.

In his welcoming address Jim Dollard, Executive Director Business Services Centre & Electric Ireland stated; ‘The IHAI was created by people of vision and commitment and the fruits of your earlier efforts are now slowly but surely creating an awareness of our rich past. The approach you are taking to progressing your aims is to be admired. Essentially it seems to me, that your organisation is trying to foster and develop connections between different sectors, diverse professional organisations and voluntary groups and this is actively forging a consensus that we should not only have a sense of shared ownership for our past but it is something we strive to safeguard and celebrate.’

The recipients of the Awards were:

Best Museum/Industrial Heritage Site: Titanic Belfast. Widely acclaimed as being one of the best and most important industrial museums in the world with a wonderful re-creation of the history of the Titanic showcasing the excellence of its engineering design and displaying the magnificent interior of the ship as well as narrating the individual stories of many of the ill-fated crew and passengers.

Special Recognition Award: Paul Duffy.Paul Duffy Chartered Engineer and Fellow of Engineers Ireland, has published and lectured extensively on Irish Engineering Heritage, as well as participating in several radio and television documentaries. He is the author of Galway History on a Postcard, and Galway City - Snapshots in Time.

ESB AWARDS 2016

Special Recognition ward went to Paul Duffy



Mary Mulvihill Media Award: Padraig Yeates.Padraig Yeates is a journalist, publicist and trade union activist. He is also a distinguished social and labour historian and the author of Lockout, the standard work on the great 1913 labour dispute. Having worked as a journalist for many years in the city, covering strikes, protests, crime, the anti-drugs movement and more, his writing bursts with a feeling of place. He also has the working journalist’s head for details, facts and figures. Other books by him include A City in Wartime: Dublin 1914-1918 and A City in Turmoil: Dublin 1919-1921.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Dr. William Alan Mc CutcheonIndustrial Archaeologist, Historian (industry, technology, engineering, transport), archivist and author. Former Director Ulster Museum, Belfast and Hon. Senior Research Fellow, QUB. He is also the author of a wide number of publications on industrial heritage issues. He has provided both informal and professional advice on many aspects of industrial heritage and has always been highly regarded by his peers for his generosity in sharing his knowledge, expertise and experience.

ASSOCIATION FOR INDUSTRCONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSES ORGANISED BY IHAI IN 2015/2016

IAL ARCHAEOLOGY TOUR OF

On the 29th September 2015, the IHAI organized a very successful, and its first, continuous professional development course – Industrial Heritage for Professionals- at the Dublin City Council Offices, Wood Quay, Dublin. Following on from this the association held a second CPD event IRELAND’S INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE: The Conservation Challenge on 13 October 2016, at the same venue. The latter focused on the challenges facing the heritage sector in the conservation of historic industrial sites. Its primary aim was to present a number of conservation case studies in response to feedback from the participants at the IHAI CPD Induction Module delivered last year. The projects selected were of local, national and international significance. The individualpresentations were followed by a structured discussion, in order to tease out the issues raised by the application of the Dublin Principles as a common standard for industrial heritage conservation – the joint ICOMOS / TICCIH* Principles for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage Sites, Structures, Areas and Landscapes.

ESB AWARDS 2016 (Left to right) Paul Duffy, Jim Dollard, Alan McCutcheon, John Doherty, Michael Grace and Padraig Yeats



ASSOCIATION FOR INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY TOUR OF ROMANIA 2016:Ewan Duffy

In May 2016, I took part in the AIA tour of Romania, which ran from 16th-22nd May. Having made my own way to Bucharest, the tour proper commenced on Tuesday with about 35 participants taking an interest in select aspects of the industrial heritage of Romania. The group were mainly British with myself from Ireland and 3 participants from the USA.

The first stop was the National Oil Museum at Ploiesti (the world’s first oil well was in Romania) followed by a visit to the water-powered La Valtori woollen mill complex at Lisa. This was an interesting location where water power is used to power the mill and also to raise the nap on the fabric in a series of circular wooden basins. The following day, we went to Rosia Montana. This site has received extensive publicity in the recent past as proposed modern day mining operations threatened the survival of significant archaeological remains in the area. The village adjacent to the mine is a shadow of its former self as the mining company bought out many properties as part of their plans to commence mining in the area. There is a small underground section of mine accessible as a tourist attraction with an adjacent mining museum, but both are crying out for investment to bring them up to Western European museum standards.

On the 19th, the group did a walking tour of the socialist workers’ town of Hunedora, seeing the exterior of the workers’ housing and a visit to the railway station and site ofthe former steelworks that historically provided employment to the town’s workers. The impressive furnace at Govajdia was visited before an afternoon at the ASTRA open air museum. This is a 237-acre site near the town of Sibiu - the nearest equivalent in

IHAI CPD on Conservation challenges facing industrial heritage, 13 October 2016:

L to R: Miles Oglethorpe, Michael Grace, Paul McMahon, Susan Roundtree, Sir Neil Cossons, Mary McMahon, Lisa Edden, Michael Phillips



AIA IN ROMANIA 2016

La Voltari woollen mill at Lisa

Rosia Montana: mine train

(Photos: Ewan Duffy)

AIA IN ROMANIA 2016

ASTRA Museum windmill

Sadu 1 Hydro Station

(Photos: Ewan Duffy)



Ireland would be Cultra. The range of mill buildings here (including many windmills and examples of floating mills) is impressive.

On 20th May, the group visited the Sadu 1 Hydro-electric power station and museum. The station is still in active use with the upper floor of the building given over to a museum of hydro-electricity. We then visited the Avrig Glass factory which produces mouth blown glass. I noted the lack of Western Health and Safety measures, with glass blowers in shorts and open sandals whilst handling molten glass and our tour group completely unsegregated from the operational furnaces. Numbers of items produced on each line were tallied on an abacus.

We finished the day with a visit to the railway station at Sibiu where a collection of historic locomotives is taking shape. There is also an operational roundhouse here. By coincidence, during our time here, a mainline locomotive arrived at the depot and was turned on the turntable – a rare enough sight.

On the final day of the tour, en route back to Bucharest, we visited a narrow gauge railway preservation effort outside Sibiu. Interestingly, in contrast to most volunteer heritage preservation societies in Britain/Ireland, rather than the active retired running the operation, the average age of volunteers was about 30. This is a hangover from the Communist Era due to volunteering being seen as working for free for the State, with the result that older generations are reluctant to engage in behaviour that reminds them of that past.

Our final location on the tour was a privately-owned water mill at Obaha dating from 1873, still in operational use today. The range of IH sites of interest selected by the organiser, Bill Barker, was impressive and based on this trip, I will be keeping an eye out for future tours.MON

NORTH CORK/WEST WATERFORD FIELDTRIP, MAY 21st -22nd 2016

UMENTS OF INDUSTRY: Part 1 TACUMSHANE

WINDMILL CO. WEXFORD

Railway bridge and kiln on Fermoy Mitchelstown railway, near Glanworth, Co. Cork

Glanworth Bridge, Co. Cork, early 18th century



Lismore Castle , Co. Waterford seat of Richard Boyle first earl of Cork (1588-1643), and latterly owned by his descendent, the 12th Duke of Devonshire

Canal warehouses (early 19th-century) for Duke of Devonshire’s canal at, Lismore Co. Waterford .

Carrigabrick Viaduct

Fermoy-Lismore Railway , GSWR



BOOK REVIEWS: Peter O’Keeffe and Tom Simington (2nd edition revised by Rob Goodbody) Irish Stone Bridges History and Heritage Irish Academic Press: Dublin, 2016. Hardback ISBN 978-1-911024-14-9, €39.99.

Long a classic of its type, Irish Stone Bridges has been the standard work on the subject for many years. It has long been out of print and expensive to buy second hand (on the rare occasions when original copies have become available) and so its reappearance, not only in full colour, and with excellent new material from Rob Goodbody, is very welcome. Such revisions are always difficult, but Goodbody has not only shown respect for O’Keeffe and Simington’s text, but has also delicately and tactfully introduced new bridge inventories in a way that considerably enhances the original. Those familiar with the 1991 book will particularly appreciate the inclusion of good quality colour photographs of surviving examples of Irish stone bridges. For these alone the revised version is worth buying. However, Rob Goodbody has also made an important contribution to our knowledge of the medieval bridge at Slane, which he has studied in detail and has included a summary account of his researched in the wonderfully revised Irish Stone Bridges.24-14-

9, €39.99.



BOOK REVIEWS: Michael English The Ha’penny Bridge Dublin Dublin City Council: Dublin, 2016. Paperback ISBN 978-1-907002-29-8. €24.95.

Bridges History and Heritage Irish Academic Press, Dublin 2016.

2016 saw the appearance of a second attractive and informative book on the subject of bridges: Dublin’s famous Ha’penny Bridge, which first opened in 1816. Michael English’s book is very well designed and beautifully produced, and is intended for the general reader. Nonetheless, English locates the history and heritage of the bridge in its the widest possible context, from its origins in Coalbrookdale’s industrial revolution, to its influence on its physical surroundings. The book includes thoughtful essays on the history of the bridge by Gerard Smyth, on Hugh Lane’s vision for Dublin (Logan Sisley) on Guinness’ brewery use of the River Liffey, and on the bridge’s structure and restoration by Michael Barry. The book a lso includes p oetry and p ainting, a long with some v ery fine b lack and w hite photography of its principal subject. All told, an extremely useful book for visitors to Dublin, but with content of interest, also, for the specialist reader.



BOOK REVIEWS: Joe Colman Falling gradient. Limerick’s railway connections- the people and the times Published by the author, 2016. Paperback, €25.

Irish railway enthusiasts have been well served by books on their chosen subject: and they keep on coming. Several useful new books appear every year on Irish railways, many of which are well-researched and produced to a high standard. Joe Coleman’s Falling Gradient falls into the latter category. It is easy to forget Limerick city’s importance in the Irish rail network since the second half of the nineteenth century, and Coleman goes to great lengths to remind us of this. The history of the Limerick rail hub is clearly laid out and its physical development described in detail. Yet this is also a book about railwaymen, and for the author it is both a lived experience of Limerick railways and the history of his family and friends, many of whom worked on them. While this is essentially a local history, it deserves a much wider audience, although I have only seen it for sale in the Limerick area.



The purpose of this notice is to gauge members' interest in a proposed IHAI outing to counties Armagh and Tyrone, and specifically the area lying south and west of Lough Neagh, rich in mills and canals.

We meet at Portadown Railway Station to pick up members (and their guests) arriving by train from Dublin and Belfast and then proceed to Armagh to collect those

participants coming by car. We continue on to Benburb to walk the Ulster Canal which linked the northern canals with Lough Erne (and eventually the River Shannon and the southern waterways). Although long disused, there is still much to be seen in addition to the actual canal - bridges, locks, and lock-keepers' houses. Close by is Orr's Mill, a large weaving factory and beetling mill on the River Blackwater. Although long defunct, it retains its preparing machinery, looms, beetling engines, turbine, and steam

engine. We will then visit Caledon and its recently restored engine house, now the only survival of a massive early 19th C flour mill. It still contains a house-built stationery steam beam engine (still awaiting restoration), the only one of its type in Ireland. Time permitting, we will also visit cornmills at Dyan and Tynan, both are still complete.

Our base will be Armagh City where there are two hotels (Armagh City and Charlemont Arms) and various guest houses catering for all budgets. It is proposed to have a communal meal in the town on Saturday evening (venue to be arranged).

On Sunday, we proceed to (the) Moy to look at an early 19th century warehouse on the Blackwater before continuing to nearby Charlemont to view a dry dock at the first lock on the Ulster Canal. It's then on to Newmills, west of Coalisland, to inspect a remarkable 'dry hurry' and aqueduct. These were associated with Ducart's Canal which connected the Dungannon coalfields with the Coalisland Canal in the later 18th century. At Coalisland, we'll look at the remnants of the canal basin, railway station, and take a guided tour of its weaving factory (with four defunct

steam engines). Adjacent to the latter is a massive pit where clay was abstracted for brick making. We then follow the Coalisland Canal eastwards from the town before returning to Armagh and Portadown to connect with the Dublin and Belfast trains.

IHAI SPRING TOUR TO MID-ULSTER, 20-21 MAY 2017

Orr's Mill, Benburb

Steam engine house, Caledon

Newmills Aqueduct



The above itinerary is provisional at this stage as some access permissions still need to be confirmed. It is anticipated that the cost of the coach hire and entry donations will be around £25-35 (€30-€40) depending on numbers. Note that this does not include any meals or accommodation but lunches will probably be priced into the final schedule. In order to gauge whether there is sufficient interest to proceed with the tour (i.e. hire the coach and confirm access), please register your interest with Fred Hamond (tel +44 28 9061 6480; email [email protected]) as soon as possible. You will be under no further obligation at this stage.

Original looms at Orr's Mill, Benburb



IHAI BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2016-2017

PRESIDENT Michael Grace VICE-PRESIDENT

Dermot O’Dwyer

COMPANY SECRETARY Ronald Cox: [email protected] TREASURER Tim Odlum MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY Ronald Cox: [email protected] BOARD MEMBERS Colin Rynne, Fred Hamond, Mary McMahon,

Paul McMahon, Norman C ampion, Stephanie Bourke, James D avidson, Michael L ynch, Michael English, David Wynne, Brendan Delany [ex-officio]

NON-DIRECTOR ADVISORS Archives: Ken Mawhinney

Inland Waterways: Colin Becker

EDITOR’S COMMENTS

Please send any material for inclusion in the newsletter to Colin Rynne ([email protected]; Department of Archaeology, UCC, Cork. I would also welcome any comments or suggestion you might have on the new look newsletter.

mailto:[email protected]

No. 48 December 2016 - IHAI · archaeological remains in the area. The village adjacent to the mine...

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